Carbon contact



W. M. AUSTIN CARBON CONTACT Filed May 19, 192'? I 16 w/"7 l V I F1; Walfr M. A usffn \NVENTOR ATTO.RNEY

UNITED STATES PATENT CFFIE CARBON CONTACT Walter M. Austin, Pittsburgh, Pa, assignor to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application May 19, 1927, Serial No. 192,583 1c Claims. (01.200-166) My invention relates to circuit interrupters and spring member 14 that is riveted to the retaining more particularly to new carbon contacts theresheath 13 by rivets 15. The body portion of 013 the supporting sheath 13 is constructed from a One object of my invention is to provide means thin sheet material containing punched and for supporting the carbon from the retaining drawn holes 16 which support the mounting 60 member without employing the usual mountingscrews 17 flush with the inner face of the supportbolt holes in the body of the carbons. ing sheath 13.

Another object of my invention is to provide a The front and rear faces, and also the top and carbon that shall be mounted in a retaining bottom faces, of the carbon 12 are in parallel 19 sheath, which retaining sheath contains the relation respectively to each other; but the sides means for mounting the carbon contact on the 18 and 19 are inclined to the bottom and rear circuit-interrupter structure. face, converging toward the top and front face A further object of my invention is to provide respectively. This construction constitutes a a carbon member and a receiving sheath for the wedge both in the upward and outward direction.

said carbon member, both of such shape and'di- The supporting sheath 13 comprises a body Z mensions that they shall be retained in a fixed portion and two side members 21 and 22 which position relative to each other by a spring member. form a wedge shaped sheath, the sides 21 and 22 It has been the practice in the past to supbearing the same inclination to each other as port carbon contacts in position in circuit-interthe sides 18 and 19 of the carbon member 12.

rupters by means of bolts passing through the The sheath 13 thus rigidly retains the carbon carbon members themselves. This reduced the 12 when the latter is pushed upward therein by cross-section of the carbon member in the vicinity the spring member 14. of the bolt holes so that stresses to which the In manufacturing my carbon contact, the porsaid member was subjected would frequently retion of the carbon member 12 which is to make 5 suit in the breaking of the carbon in the vicinity Contact with the supporting sheath 13 is first 80 of the holes. copper plated and then tinned before assembly.

It is the object of this invention to overcome The inner surface of the two sides 21 and 22 and this breaking by supporting the carbon in a rethe body portion of the supporting sheath 13 taining sheath which sheath also contains the are tinned as are also the heads or" the supportmeans for mounting the entire unit in position in ing screws 17. After the carbon 12, the supportthe circuit-interrupter. ing screws 17, supporting sheath l3 and the bias- The invention will be better understood by refihg Spring member 14 have ran been assembled, erring to the drawing in which: the entire member is heated to a suitable tem- Figure 1 is a view in elevation of a circuit inperature to sweat the members together and so 5 terrupter containing the inventors sheathed type unite them into a single unit. 90 of carbon contactor; It will thus be seen that I have provided a Fig. 2 is a view in elevation showing a front Carbon Contact that may be supported in a cirview of the carbon supported in the sheath abovecult interrupter orother device without the nedescribed; cessity of weakening the structure by the use of 40 Fig. 3 is a similar view taken at from Fig. 2; such holes through the carbons as have heretoas and fore been employed as a mounting means. I Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the structure shown have also provided a Spring member to retain in Figs. 2 and 3. the carbon in the supporting sheath in fixed re- My invention comprises, in general, a circuit at 'n thereto, even u h the solder or the breaker 1 mounted on a panel 2 having t t copper plating should be loosened by repeated .100

members 3 and 4 that are bridged by the conductoperation.

ing member 5. The supporting frame 6 is mount- Although I have described & pecific embodied on the panel 2 and contains the operating ment of my invention, it is obvious to those skilled mechanism'7 and the overload and tripping mechin the art that various modifications may be '50 anism 8. The bridging member 5 has cooperating made without departing from the principles set v with it the secondary copper contact 9 and the forth in the appended claims. tertiary or carbon contact 11. I claim as my invention:

The carbon contact 11 is constituted by the car- 1 A rbon member of truncated wedge shape bon member 12 that is Conta n d Within the D- the sides of which diverge toward the bottom and 55 por Sheath 13 and retained in position y the rear face, a metal sheath member having a body portion and two side members, the said side members being in diverging relation to each other corresponding to the relation of the sides of the carbon, and means for biasing the carbon into firm relation with the sheath member.

2. A carbon member having a pair of opposite sides inclined out of a perpendicular to the planes of the bottom and rear faces converging toward the top and front faces, the rear face and a portion of the aforesaid opposite sides being copper plated and tinned and. a metal wedge shaped member having sides sloping in the above said manner for receiving the carbon, the inner side of the said receiving member being tinned and sweated to the carbon.

3. A carbon member having a pair of opposite sides inclined out of a perpendicular to the planes of the bottom and rear faces converging toward the top and front faces, the rear face and a portion of the aforesaid opposite sides being copper plated and tinned, a metal wedge-shaped mem ber the sides of which are inclined to receive the carbon, the inner side of the said receiving member being tinned and sweated to the carbon and a spring member for retaining the carbon member in firm relation with the receiving member if the sweated portion become loosened.

4. A carbon member having a pair of opposite sides inclined out of a perpendicular to the planes of the bottom and rear faces converging toward the top and front faces, the rear face and a portion of the aforesaid opposite sides being copper plated and tinned, a metal wedge-shaped member having its sides sloping inward and upward for receiving the carbon, the inner side of the said receiving member being tinned and sweated to the carbon and mounting means cooperating with the retaining member for supporting the assembled unit.

5. A carbon member having a pair of its opposite sides inclined out of a perpendicular to the plane of the bottom and rear faces, a receiving member comprising a body portion and two side portions, the said side portions being inclined in substantially the same manner as the aforesaid sides of the carbon, and a spring member pressing on the bottom of the carbon adapted to force the carbon into firm engagement with the receiver.

,6. A carbon member having a pair of its opposite sides inclined out of a perpendicular to the plane of the bottom and rear faces, a receiving member comprising a body portion and two side portions, the said side portions being inclined in substantially the same manner as the aforesaid sides of the carbon, a spring member pressing on the bottom of the carbon adapted to force the carbon into firm engagement with the receiver, and mounting screws in the body portion of the receiver having the heads thereof flush with the inner face of its body portion and held in this position by the carbon.

7. A carbon contact comprising a carbon member having a contact or front face, a rear face opposite thereto, and two opposite side faces, a supporting member for the carbon member having a body portion engaging the rear face and two side portions engaging the side faces of the carbon member, said side faces and side portions converging in a direction generally parallel to the front face, and means acting against the carbon member in the direction of convergence of said side faces to wedge the same between the side portions of the supporting member.

8. A carbon contact comprising a carbon member having a contact or front face, a rear face opposite thereto, and two opposite side faces, a supporting member for the carbon member having a body portion engaging the rear face and two side portions engaging the side faces of the carbon member, said side faces and side portions converging in a direction generally parallel to the front face, means acting against the carbon member in the direction of convergence of said side faces to wedge the same between the side portions of the supporting member, and means for retaining the carbon member against forward movement relative to the supporting member.

9. A carbon contact comprising a carbon member having a contact or front face and a rear face opposite thereto, a supporting member for the carbon member having a body portion engaging the rear face and two side portions engaging the opposite sides of the carbon member, said side portions being so disposed that the carbon member is wedged in the supporting member when moved in a direction generally parallel to said front face, and means acting against said carbon member in said direction to retain the same in wedged engagement.

10. A carbon contact comprising a carbon member having a contact or front face, a rear face opposite thereto and two opposite side faces, a supporting member for the carbon member having an intermediate portion engaging the rear face and two side portions engaging the side faces of the carbon member, said side faces and side portions converging from the rear face toward the contact face and also converging in a direction generally parallel to the contact face, and means acting against the carbon member in. the direction of said last-mentioned convergence of said side faces to wedge the same between the side portions of the supporting member.

WALTER M. AUSTIN. 

